Namco Networks has announced the release of Mishap: An Accidental Haunting for iOS devices. The game is a hidden object style game and it retails for $4.99 for the iPhone/iPod Touch and $6.99 for the iPad version of the game.

Players take on the role of Brock and Kelly Burton. They have just bought a beautiful house, but they didn’t know there were other spirits living in the house. The house is full of ghosts. The Burton’s don’t want ghosts roaming around their new home, so they get Milton Hobblepop to take care of the situation. Milton is a self-proclaimed professional paranormal investigator and exterminator. He will get rid of the ghosts by finding the hidden objects in each level.  The game includes mini-games and challenges where players have to challenge each of the eight ghosts.

“As a company, we recognize the industry is quickly shifting and becoming platform agnostic,” stated Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing, Namco.  “With the PC version ranking number one in the Hidden Object category for Jay is Games’ Best of 2009 Awards, we wanted to extend the accessibility of this franchise by bringing it to the iOS platform.”

If you are looking for a hidden object game for your apple device, check out Mishap: An Accidental Haunting in the Apple App Store.

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Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials is a hidden object game/adventure game for the iPad. Players have to help solve the death of Nathaniel Hawthorne. He died during a snow storm, but his death is mysterious and his ghost has asked you to help him rest in peace. The ghost will not rest until the death is solved and the world knows what happened that night.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ghost has come to you asking for help. You decide you can’t turn away such a great writer and you agree to investigate his death. The investigations takes twists and turns as you follow the clues. Players explore different areas and each area has clues to how Hawthorne died. The important areas are hidden object games. The hidden object part of the game is the same as most hidden object games. There is a list of items to find at the bottom of the screen and the player needs to find those items. Some of the items are described instead of listed, such as a squirrels snack.

There are hints scattered through out the levels to help the players. Every time the player finds a raven they earn a hint. The raven stays perched on a lantern at the lower corner of the screen. The lantern will show the user the item they are looking for. For instance, if you didn’t know that a squirrels snack was an acorn, you could touch the words and the acorn would be displayed in the lantern.

The adventure part of the game requires the user to use their brain. There are puzzles that need to be solved to progress the game, but the player is left on their own to figure the puzzles out. They need to use items from their inventory and think things through to progress. The game will not let you leave a room if you have not found everything you need to find, so there is no worry that you may miss something you need. The player picks up items along the way and keeps the items in their inventory. The inventory items are used to help progress the story line and solve puzzles. There will be items that are picked up that aren’t used until much later in the game. The adventure part of the game is challenging and keeps players engaged.

The graphics in the game are stunning and really well done. The ghosts look like graphics from a movie. The graphics are dark, but that makes sense giving the setting of the game and the tragedy the player is trying to uncover. The touch controls are precise. The game never missed a touch and the game is played by touching the screen to move and touching the screen to find the hidden objects.

Over all, Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials is a challenging, fun and entertaining game. There is a little bit for every type of game player in this game. The story is progressed by solving puzzles and using your brain and then there are hidden object levels thrown in too. Players are left to their own merit to progress the story and  need to use the clues in the journal and their brain to move on. Each time the story line is progressed a journal entry is made. The journal entry will have clues on what to do next. If you like adventure games that require thought with a bit of hidden object games thrown in, check out Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials in the Apple App Store.

Avanquest Software has announced the upcoming release of Witches Curse for the Nintendo DS. The game was originally released on the PC and has been adapted for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo DS owners will have to complete 40 different puzzles and 15 mini-games all set in magical backgrounds.

Princess Isabella has returned from a trip to find out an evil curse has been put on the castle. The curse has turned everyone in the castle into mirrors. The players take on the role of Isabella and fight the evil witch that has cursed the castle. The player does have a fairy that will be helping them battle the witch. Players have to search the castle for broken mirror pieces. The pieces have to be put back together to release the people from the curse.

If you are looking for a hidden object game/puzzle game for the Nintendo DS, check out Witches Curse.

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SpinTop Games has announced their latest hidden object game, Mystery P.I.: Stolen in San Francisco, the latest in the long-running Mystery P.I. series. As the title implies, this game takes place in the Golden Gate City.

There are three game types included with the game. In ‘Find the Stolen Gold’, the player has to find clues that will lead them to $250 Million in stolen solid gold, which had been pilfered from an armored car. The search will take the player around San Francisco, visiting sites such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Haight-Ashbury, Fisherman’s Wharf, among other for a total of 25 scenes. The scenes feature over 2100 hidden objects. Collecting all the Keys & Peace Symbols unlock two bonus game modes: Unlimited Seek & Find and a Match-3 Bonus game.

“Since San Francisco is sometimes affectionately dubbed the Golden City, we thought it was the perfect setting for a gold heist. Glittering and gritty locations alike make this seek-and-find mystery a fun adventure for the whole family,” states Duncan Magee, co-director and co-founder of SpinTop. “We focused our efforts on creating the best visual locations ever to keep our millions of Mystery P.I. fans happy. We’ve always kept our artistic standards high, and I think we’ve exceeded them with Stolen in San Francisco!”

The deluxe version is available now at Spin Top Games, and will eventually be available in a few months at other game portals such as Gamehouse, MSN Gaming Zone, Pogo and Yahoo! Games.

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Mushroom Age HD is a hidden object adventure game for the iPad. The player takes on the role of Vera. Vera has to help find her fiance that has gone missing. The search brings Vera through different points in history. She finds herself dealing with dinosaurs and even robots in the future.

Vera’s fiance, Tom, work in a science lab and she has not heard from him in a few days. The  wedding is fast approaching so Vera goes to Tom’s work to find out what is going on. She finds that Tom is missing and she has to go find him. The search for Tom is the main focus in the game. There are different pieces of the search. Some times the player will need to search for hidden objects in a room or area and other times they will need to solve puzzles to progress through the levels.

Some of the hidden object games give the player a silhouette of the object that needs to be found. The player has to find those objects around the area. Within the hidden object games are some puzzles too. Players will find locked drawers and cabinets that need to be opened before they can be looked through. The key has to be found or a way to open the locked item. The locked item usual contains things you are looking for. The way players search for hidden objects changes from time to time, which keeps things interesting.

The puzzles in the game range from untangling lines to rotating items to connect to each other. Some times the puzzles are not explained and the only thing the player knows is figure out how to get out off this level. The player has to explore the level and figure out what can be used to get them off the level and make something happen. That type of level can be frustrating to the player that likes direction in their game, but there is a hint button that can help you through it.

The graphics in the game are great. The iPad is capable of displaying amazing graphics and Mushroom Age HD takes advantage of that. The touch mechanics in the game work well. Each touch was recognized.

Over all, Mushroom Age HD is a fun and entertaining game. The game takes the hidden object genre and mixes in puzzles and a fairly decent story line. There is enough mystery to the story line to make you want to keep playing the levels and find out what happened to Tom. Each period in history brings new objects to search for and new puzzles to solve. If you enjoy hidden object games, you can’t go wrong with Mushroom Age HD. Players can buy Mushroom Age HD in the Apple App Store.